Tortuous

//ˈtɔːt͡ʃuːəs// adj

adj ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Twisted; having many turns; convoluted. figuratively, often

    "The badger made his dark and tortuous hole on the side of every hill where the copsewood grew thick."

  2. 2
    Oblique; applied to the six signs of the zodiac (from Capricorn to Gemini) that ascend most rapidly and obliquely.

    "Infortunate ascendent tortuous."

  3. 3
    Injurious; tortious. obsolete
Adjective
  1. 1
    not straightforward wordnet
  2. 2
    highly complex or intricate and occasionally devious wordnet
  3. 3
    marked by repeated turns and bends wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
convolutedindirecttwistingaffectedambagiousambiguous

Example

More examples

"Their breasts erect they rear amid the deep, / their blood-red crests above the surface shine, / their hinder parts along the waters sweep, / trailed in huge coils and many a tortuous twine."

Etymology

From Middle English tortuous, tortuose, from Anglo-Norman and Old French tortuos, from Latin tortuōsus, from tortus (“a twisting, winding”).

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.